There’s a particular kind of magic that happens when dry charcoal meets wet paint. Smudges become shadows, mistakes become movement and a “wrong” line turns out to be exactly the right one.

In this workshop, you’ll layer charcoal under and over acrylic paint to create textured artworks full of contrast, mood and story that shuns technical perfection.

Using loose sketches of chairs and the human figure as your starting point, you’ll build scenes that hint at narrative without spelling it out. Abstract, structured, dream-like – it’s all fair game. Think of it less like painting what you see and more like painting a feeling: a moment, a memory. You do not need to know how to draw people or furniture. We’ll take the pressure off with photos, simple stencils and some playful exercises that get your hand moving before your inner critic wakes up. If you’re already comfortable drawing figures, you’re welcome to push your skills further. This class is an invitation to let go of “perfect” and get busy experimenting with materials.

What to expect:
• Explore stencils, blind contour and mark-making styles to loosen up
• Build backgrounds with acrylic paint on canvas boards
• Work charcoal into your painted layers, drawing and redrawing figures and chairs
• Layer, rework and build a finished piece that’s uniquely yours
• You’ll take home a finished artwork, a new process you can keep exploring at home and a head full of ideas for future artworks.